Five Days at Memorial
Life and Death in a Storm-ravaged Hospital
What's it about
What would you do if the power went out, the water rose, and all your patients' lives were in your hands? This gripping account puts you inside a disaster-ravaged hospital, forcing you to confront the impossible ethical choices doctors faced in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Discover the minute-by-minute struggle for survival at Memorial Medical Center. You'll learn how a combination of systemic failures and human desperation led to life-or-death decisions that are still debated today. This is a powerful investigation into medical ethics, disaster preparedness, and the terrifying line between mercy and murder.
Meet the author
Sheri Fink is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, physician, and former relief worker whose reporting forms the basis of Five Days at Memorial. Her unique background in both medicine and investigative journalism gave her unparalleled access and insight into the life-and-death ethical dilemmas faced by caregivers during Hurricane Katrina. Fink’s work explores the harrowing choices made in crisis situations, blending rigorous reporting with a deep understanding of the human side of medicine under extreme pressure.
The Script
In a modern skyscraper, the fire chief has a rule: in an emergency, evacuation plans prioritize those nearest the exits, those who can move on their own. It’s a brutal, necessary calculus. But what happens when the building is a hospital? The calculus inverts. The sickest, most vulnerable patients are on the highest floors, dependent on machines and the care of others. They are the furthest from the exits and the least able to move. When the power fails, the elevators stop, and the floodwaters rise, the standard rules of evacuation become a death sentence. The hierarchy of care, designed to protect the most fragile, suddenly becomes a trap. This is the moment when the sworn duty to preserve life collides with the terrifying logic of survival, forcing impossible questions upon the caregivers left behind. Who gets the last boat? Who is moved first? And what do you do for those you know you cannot save?
The person who would spend years examining these very questions was a physician and journalist named Sheri Fink. Initially a foreign correspondent covering human rights in conflict zones, she had witnessed how systems and individuals behave under extreme duress. After hearing whispers of what happened inside Memorial Medical Center after Hurricane Katrina—stories of exhausted doctors making life-and-death decisions in the dark—she felt a familiar pull. This was an American city. Fink dedicated the next six years of her life to a meticulous investigation, interviewing hundreds of people to reconstruct, minute by minute, the choices made during those five days when the norms of civilization were washed away, leaving only the raw, human struggle behind.
Module 1: The Anatomy of Collapse
The story begins with a deep, almost mythical trust in Memorial Medical Center. For decades, the hospital was a fortress against hurricanes. Staff called it "Baptist." It was a place where families gathered for shelter, confident in its sturdy walls. This sense of security was absolute. But Katrina was a systems failure on an epic scale.
First, the infrastructure crumbled. The city lost power. Memorial’s backup generators, which had critical components in the basement, were submerged and failed. The hospital descended into darkness. The heat soared past 100 degrees. Toilets stopped working. Life-support machines went silent. This was a complete breakdown of the physical environment required for modern medicine.
Next, the chain of command disintegrated. Rescue operations were chaotic and uncoordinated. The Coast Guard would arrive, then disappear. The hospital's corporate owner, Tenet Healthcare, was in Dallas, disconnected from the reality on the ground. Staff felt abandoned. The normal expectation of aid, of a plan, simply vanished. This leads to a terrifying realization for the people inside. In a total system collapse, you are on your own.
Finally, the social order outside the walls dissolved. Rumors of snipers, looters, and violence spread like wildfire. The hospital became a fortress in what felt like a war zone. This fear was a powerful motivator. It was about saving patients from the perceived lawlessness of the world outside. This created a new, dark variable in every decision. Fear of external chaos can justify actions that are unthinkable in peacetime. The orderly world of medicine was gone. In its place was a primal struggle for survival.